The law may reserve the sanction of imprisonment for cases of inaccurate declaration of assets above a certain threshold and for perpetrators acting with deliberate intent, the Commission believes.
The Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on December 9 issued an urgent joint opinion on the legislative situation regarding anti-corruption mechanisms following the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to repeal criminal liability for the inaccurate declaration of assets by the country's officials.
Recognizing that the fight against corruption is an "essential element" in a state governed by the Rule of law, the Commission and the DGI say that "so is respect for the Constitution and for constitutional justice."
Parliament and the executive branch must respect the role of the Constitutional Court as the "gatekeeper of the Constitution" and "take into account the arguments used by the Constitutional Court."
"In turn, a Constitutional Court, like any other state institution and court, on the one hand deserves institutional respect but, on the other hand, must respect its own procedures and for the sake of constitutional stability and legal certainty, must issue decisions that are generally consistent with its own case-law. Even more importantly, a constitutional court must decide within the parameters of its legal authority and jurisdiction," the joint opinion reads.
The Venice Commission has acknowledged that the Constitutional Court's decision in question "lacks clear reasoning, has no firm basis in international law, and was possibly tainted with a major procedural flaw – an unresolved question of a conflict of interest of some judges."
"This is regrettable, not only because of the immediate negative effect of this decision on the fight against corruption in Ukraine, but also because such decisions undermine public trust in constitutional justice in general," the joint opinion reads.
"Nonetheless, the constitutional role of the Constitutional Court must be respected, and the Verkhovna Rada should implement the decision by interpreting it in light of the constitutional foundations of the country and applicable international standards, preserving public interests such as the fight against corruption, including in the judiciary," the opinion says.
Read alsoUkraine's law on asset declarations has several deficiencies, EU says
In this light, the Venice Commission proposes that the Verkhovna Rada look into the following solutions: